BANGOR, Maine — As snow fell on Husson University earlier this week, Elvin Suazo wasn’t busy shoveling or playing football, the latter a passion in which he ranks among the top linebackers in New England.
The focus instead was academic for Suazo, a senior from Brooklyn, New York, who is a finalist for the Cliff Harris Award symbolic of the nation’s top small-college defensive football player. That winner will be announced Dec. 24.
Final exams in advanced accounting and federal taxation loomed the next day, with a general psychology test still to take before he could go home for the holidays.
Much of Suazo’s motivation for success in the classroom these days comes from the same source as his recent drive for thriving on the gridiron — a fallen friend.
Najee Ali Baker, whom Suazo met when they were freshmen at Abraham Lincoln High School, was shot and killed Jan. 20 at a party on the campus of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. A suspect in the case has been arrested.
“We met as teammates on the JV football team, him at defensive tackle and me at defensive end,” said the 21-year-old Suazo who, with Baker, helped their high school win back-to-back city championships in 2012 and 2013. “He was my brother on the D-Line, and I’ve just tried to honor him this year the best way I can.”
Both Suazo and Baker matriculated in New England after high school, Suazo at Husson and Baker at Dean College in Franklin, Massachusetts.
Suazo had near-immediate success, rising from deep on the depth chart to a starting berth at defensive end before the end of his freshman season.
“He tells the guys now he was sixth string for the first few games and wound up starting as a freshman, which is very unusual,” Husson coach Gabby Price said. “But he had tremendous speed and quickness and just a no-quit attitude.”
Early in his sophomore year Suazo came face-to-face with his friend from high school when Husson played Dean during in the 2016 regular season.
“We were both talking before the game about how we were going to whoop each other’s offensive line,” Suazo recalled.
Husson won 43-23, setting the stage for the first of three straight NCAA Division III tournament appearances for the Eagles with Suazo in the lineup.
Baker transferred to Winston-Salem State University for his junior year while Suazo switched from defensive end to linebacker on Husson’s defense.
“We thought we could use his speed at linebacker because he has a tremendous nose for the football,” Price said. “Certainly he was good at defensive end, but we thought if we put him back off the ball a little bit he’d be even better.”
Suazo led Husson with 87 tackles in 2017 as the Eagles yielded just 14.2 points per game en route to a 10-2 record and the program’s first NCAA postseason victory, a 23-21 decision at Springfield.
Suazo stood out despite playing through a torn left rotator cuff suffered during a midseason win over SUNY Maritime.
“I didn’t know it was torn at first,” he said. “I played defensive end my first two years and that was my first year at linebacker and I was doing a lot more hitting so honestly I thought the pain in my shoulder was just a new feel because I was playing a new position.”
A postseason physical revealed the tear, which did not require surgery but was rehabilitated through six weeks of therapy. That led to a shift in offseason weight-training strategy that focused on lower-body strength until Suazo was cleared to resume upper-body exercise.
“It was tough at first being straight one-dimensional and only using my lower body but it all paid off,” he said. “I got stronger legs, I got faster and the legs are what’s most important because that’s what gets you to the ball carrier.”
Suazo led Husson in tackles again this fall, his 91 stops nearly 40 more than his nearest teammate on a defense that ranked sixth in NCAA Division III in rushing defense (64.0 yards per game).
All the while he was mourning.
Suazo switched uniform numbers from 52 to 1 — Baker’s high school jersey number — and began a routine of praying on the 1-yard line before each game and practice.
“It helped me because I felt like he and I were on the football field together,” Suazo said. “It may sound crazy but while I knew I had my other 10 teammates out there I felt like with him I had that 12th man with me.”
Suazo also credits Baker with an attitude change that improved his on-field performance.
“I know for a fact one thing I lacked was aggression in my game and that was always a big part of his game, he was a very aggressive defensive tackle,” Suazo said. “He was always causing havoc, he was always destroying the offensive line, and I just felt like because of that he was part of why I made all those tackles. I was a lot more aggressive this year.”
Suazo, who set school records for career games played (44), quarterback sacks (25) and sack yardage (198), plans to stay at Husson an extra year to pursue a master’s degree in accounting.
That makes this week’s exams all the more important.
“We’re college students, we have an enormous amount of work to do and that stresses a lot of people out, but football has always been the getaway for me,” Suazo said. “When I’m out on that practice field for two hours I’m just having fun without a care in the world.
“But now I’ve just got to finish these finals because it’s not all about football. (Baker’s) with me in everything now.”
